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Ballenas Secondary students stage ‘The Addams Family’ musical in Parksville

Director still hopes for live-audience public performances
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Ballenas Secondary School performers during a rehearsal of ‘The Addams Family’ musical. (Mandy Moraes photo)

Ballenas Secondary School students are ready to take the stage and perform a rendition of The Addams Family musical.

The musical, written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, was initially suggested by Grade 11 student Sabrina Blaase - who appears as Wednesday Addams on stage.

Blaase said she and her mother found the musical while searching for suggestions online.

“We were listening to the music and we looked at the different characters and what the story was. And I thought it would just be such a good musical because there’s so much potential for bigger roles for other people to take on, unlike some shows we’ve done. And I thought it would just be a really nice, fun show to do,” she said.

The school’s theatre, Whalebone Theatre, will have closed performances for fellow classmates through Feb. 22. It is yet to be determined whether there will be a live in-house audience for following performances.

Director and teacher Doug Campbell confirmed there will be opportunities for public viewing on Feb. 23, Feb. 24 and March 1, but at this time he is not certain if those performances will have to be webstreamed through Whalebone Theatre’s Facebook page. He said it depends on the possibility of COVID-19 regulations being eased on Feb. 21. Campbell said either way, public performances will be announced via the Facebook page.

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“Having a live audience is what we want, obviously,” said Campbell, adding that “real people in the seats” is what students are used to.

Last year’s original production, Imagine That! by Max Hannah and Joe Panych (who both appear in The Addams Family musical) was a webstreamed performance as well.

The Addams Family musical follows the story of Wednesday Addams after she falls in love with a “normal” boy and invites him and his family over to dinner to announce their engagement. The story progresses over the course of the evening as the two families come together despite obvious cultural clashes.

Campbell said there are 30 students in the performance altogether, with the main cast of 10 comprised of Grade 11 and Grade 12 students. Each performance is approximately two hours with an intermission break and will include 12 musical numbers.

Campbell said they’ve been preparing and rehearsing for the show since the second week of school in September.

Costumes were provided by Rembrandts Gallery in Parksville and choreography was done by a former Ballenas Secondary student, Kim Wallace.

Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Campbell said he went back and forth on whether or not the students would wear masks while on stage, but ultimately decided to err on the side of caution.

“The possibility of infecting each other would be the end of the show,” he said. “Having them wear masks will be a complete detriment because it’s hard enough to hear people in here at the best of times. But behind a mask will be even harder.”

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He said there will be a quality of emotionality lost with the audience not being able to see the performer’s whole face.

“That’s what theatre is all about, you’re supposed to be able to see people’s facial expressions. And I really tried to emphasize the eyes and have them really express with body and voice,” he said, adding that he likened it to the early days of commedia dell’arte where everything was very physical and animated and that the chosen musical already lends itself to that form and is animated by design.

“A lot of this is more about what they are learning and experiencing along the way. And the show is like the icing on the cake. And yes, usually it’s with a live audience and that’s much better icing - but a show is still a show. It’s what they learn along the way.”

Masked or unmasked, webstreamed or with an in-house audience, Campbell said students are still excited to perform nonetheless.

“It doesn’t matter to them, honestly. I mean, of course, we would all prefer a live audience and we’re hoping for that. But we unanimously decided to keep going because they love doing it.”

mandy.moraes@pqbnews.com

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Mandy Moraes

About the Author: Mandy Moraes

I joined Black Press Media in 2020 as a multimedia reporter for the Parksville Qualicum Beach News, and transferred to the News Bulletin in 2022
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